Florida trailed by one with under ten minutes remaining. The Gators forwards aggressively attacked the Vanderbilt defense and created several scoring opportunities down the stretch.
UF freshman forward Lena Bailey took possession of the ball and dashed toward the net. She crossed the ball to freshman forward Megan Hinnenkamp, who buried the shot to secure a late draw.
The Florida Gators (6-5-5, 2-4-3 SEC) drew with the Vanderbilt Commodores (8-4-5, 3-4-2 SEC) 3-3 Sunday afternoon in Nashville, Tennessee. The Gators narrowly escaped with the draw after Hinnekamp’s late score in response to a Vanderbilt offensive push.
Vanderbilt senior defender Alex Wagner took the first shot of the game, but Florida senior goalkeeper Alexa Goldberg turned it away.
In the fourth minute, senior Gators midfielder Julianne Leskauskas was called for a foul and gave Vanderbilt a free kick. The Commodores couldn’t capitalize on the set piece, however.
In the 12th minute, Hinnenkamp scored her SEC-freshman-leading seventh goal of the season to give the Gators the early lead.
Vanderbilt junior forward Rachel Deresky snuck a shot inside of the right goal post to tie the game at one just seven minutes later.
In the 25th minute, Florida senior defender Anna DeLeon sent a long shot on goal from a free kick for the Gators. Senior Commodores goalkeeper Kate Devine intercepted the ball and made the save.
Junior Gators forward Maddy Pirrello redirected a shot toward the goal and scored to put UF back on top by one.
Vanderbilt junior midfielder Mia Castillo sent a shot on net off a rebound, but it was blocked by the Florida defense as time expired in the first half. The Gators entered the halftime break with a 2-1 lead.
In the 47th minute, Florida earned a penalty kick. Devine made a diving save on the shot attempt and kept the Vanderbilt deficit to just one.
Freshman Commodores forward Ella Eggelston floated a shot just wide of the right post and out of bounds.
In the 61st minute, senior Vanderbilt midfielder Amber Nguyen blasted a shot beyond the reach of Goldberg inside the bottom left post. The goal tied the match at two apiece.
Shortly after, Hinnenkamp narrowly missed the left post of the goal and sent the shot out of bounds.
In the 78th minute, sophomore Commodores defender Maddie Baker blasted a shot off the leg of a Gator defender that deflected into the back of the net. The goal gave Vanderbilt a late 3-2 lead.
Hinnenkamp scored her second goal of the game off an assist from Bailey to tie the game at three with under five minutes left in the match.
Both teams played in the midfield as time expired, and the match ended in a 3-3 draw.
The Gators will next be in action for their final game of the regular season against the South Carolina Gamecocks at home at 6 p.m. Thursday night. The game will be streamed on SEC Network+.
Contact Austin Stirling at astirling@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @austinstirlingg
Austin Stirling is a third-year journalism major and sports reporter for The Alligator. He previously covered Gators women's basketball and is primarily covering soccer during the fall 2023 semester. He is a huge New York sports fan and is hoping the Jets can be a respectable football team for once in his life this season.
